The official color of mental health

Every cause has a a color and a month that correlates with the respective issue, so obviously, the topic of mental health/illness would have such color and months. Well, who knew that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Maybe I just haven’t been following the news but I haven’t heard much about this month in the news. Accompanying this month also involves a National Anxieties Disorders Day.

Though May might be the ‘official month’ for mental health awareness, there are other times to celebrate during the year. October is Mental Illness Awareness Week, which involves a National Depression Screening Day. As for the rest of the world, there is World mental illness day is in October.

Want to start raising awareness about mental health by wearing a ribbon? The color is GREEN….unless if you look up under the ‘mental illness’ category, in which case, the alternate color is gray. Great. We can’t even agree on a color.

Ribbons, ribbon-shaped bumper stickers and charity-event shirts are found everywhere these days. But how many of us have seen a green ribbon pinned to a woman’s blouse collar, or an SUV with a green ribbon-magnet stuck next to his sport team sticker? This all may sound trivial and silly. I mean, a green ribbon could represent a whole slew of other illnesses. However, the lack of awareness on our part in these symbols indicate that we are nowhere close to bringing awareness about the topic of mental health in general. And such dearth of public recognition translates to the fact that there’s less funding for research in this field.

I found a scrap of green ribbon tonight, so I made a little loop and stuck it on my bulletin board. It may mean absolutely nothing, but when I looked at it, I thought, “I’m not just supporting the cause. I’ve survived it so I can support the cause.”